TPP negotiators meet in Japan

An overview of negotiation between 11 TPP countries in Tokyo in September (Source: the Japan Times/ ​VNA)

Tokyo (VNA) – Chief negotiators from
the 11 remaining signatories to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement
started their three-day talks near Tokyo on October 30 to seek an agreement next
week on the implementation of the pact without the US.

They gathered in Urayasu city in Chiba
prefecture, seeking to make progress on reaching a consensus on which clauses
to suspend implementing until the US returns to the deal.

While the negotiators aim to reach a deal after
rounds of talks on the sidelines of the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vietnam in November, concern has emerged since new
Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern suggested her administration should
seek to renegotiate the pact.

Host country Japan wants to make minimal changes
to the pact to keep its "high-level standard”.

Currently, there have been requests to freeze
implementation of 50 clauses, centering on those introduced at the request of
the US, a Japanese negotiation source said.

The TPP was signed in February 2016 by
Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru,
Singapore, the US and Vietnam, covering around 40 percent of the global economy
before the US’s withdrawal earlier this year.-VNA